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Lot Essay
In the 1940s, the French couple Mr and Mme Mourot moved from France to Shanghai, China, to work at the Shanghai Alliance Francaise. While the Mourots were organizing lectures, exchange conferences, musical performance and exhibitions for the Alliance. Lin Fengmian's wife who is French actively participated in these gatherings, later Mr and Mme Mourot met the artist Lin Fengmian in 1947. They started collecting Lin Fengmian's paintings in the 1940-50s. Through genuine art appreciation and exchange, they established a deep cross-cultural friendship. In the 1980s, Mme Mourot even went to Hong Kong deliberately to visit Lin, who suffered greatly from the torments in the 1960-70s, demonstrating the close friendship between the couple and the artist. Many of Lin's works have been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution; the works in the Mourot family collection by Lin allow us a glimpse of the multifarious topics the artist were working on - landscapes, birds, opera characters, and ladies. They demonstrate the innovation and achievement of Lin in the area of composition, lines, light, and spatial relationship. These innovation and originality not only represent a milestone within the development of the Chinese Modern Art, they also show how the artist has realized his goal in "blending the spirit of the East and West harmoniously".
In the 1940s Lin resigned from the post of principal of Hangzhou Art College, and fled to Chongqing during war. During the sojourn, he had been greatly impressed by the scenery in Jialing River. The villages on the bank sides left a significant impression in the artist's mind. These memories might have been transformed into Coastal Village (Lot 2264). Lin adopted the signature composition style of 'Ma Yijiao', placing the village at the lower left corner of the picture. On the right, the water extends indefinitely, and stretches to the middle ground to bridge with the mountainous background. The interwoven lines form the triangular and square shapes that became the overlaying village houses, which create an overall well-balanced rhythm. Not only did Lin clearly capture the layered relationship of fore-, middle- and background within the scene, the reflection of the light was also expressed through the rippling effect created by the smudging of the semi-transparent ink. The sense of spatiality is ingeniously created through the simply outline of birds in mid-air.
Square compositions were a major trait of Lin's artistic creation. Circles confound in squares and squares framed in circles are not only a typical Western modernist compositional format but also suggests its inheritance from the traditional Chinese saying of "round as the skies, square as the land". The imagery in Mountain Village (Lot 2265) seems to have captured the vast scenery within the mountain in a crystal ball. At first glance, it seems to be illustrating a spring landscape; yet the purple blossom on the trees in the foreground, the golden trees in the mid-ground, the pine trees at the back and the shade of blue overcast in the sky, embodies the atmosphere of the seasonal changes in a year within the image. Lin successfully captures the transition of time within the painting and the multi-perspective stands for the artist's understanding and perception of the holistic view of nature. Lin was good at creating compositionally complex forest scene on a square canvas. Through the pathway at the front, one walks into the houses with black-tiled roof and white walls. Trees grow along the pathway, leading the viewer upwards along the slope. If one examines Village Houses (Lot 2263) carefully, one would found that Lin placed emphasis on the colour in order to strengthen the texture of the scene and to balance the layers of tonal variations in the ink. Using the method of "ink overlaying colours", and vice verse, he created a landscape scene with complexly interwoven layers of colour and alternating thickness of the medium. Kandinsky once stated, "black is the most toneless colour. It can be used as a neutral background to complement the intricate changes of other colours." Lin set off the changes of yellow, green and blue with the large areas of house with back-tiled roofs.
Egrets (Lot 2266) and Fishing Birds, (Lot 2267) perfectly demonstrate Lin's mastery in using ink, it is a perfect representation of how colour and ink blends together. In Chinese paintings, there is a theory of the "five basic colours of ink"; ink is not considered as merely black. In an ink painting, even though only a single ink colour is applied, it can still represent the subjects perfectly by creating tonal changes of "dry, wet, dense, light and charred". In Fishing Birds, the artist applied theories of Western Modernism into the ink composition. The artist reconsidered the three-dimensional space as elements of a two-dimensional surface. The reeds and the birds on the rafts in the foreground, the shallow beach in the mid-ground, and the rock mountain in the back, separate the image into three sections. The reed stems by the waterside is outlined by brisk brushstrokes, the intricate changes of the lines are highlighted by the tint of ink over the image. The fishing birds are depicted with simple strokes of dark ink, while the blank space left to represent the white stream and sky imply the uncertain spatial distance. Egrets depicts three birds in different postures by the reeds in a close-up angle. The blend of colour and ink show the humidity and fogginess that is unique of Southern China. A smooth contour line outlines the shape of the birds. The intense ink strokes recreate the gait of the bird. From the concentrated ink that forms their tails to their eyes that has been depicted with precision, Lin presented the appearance and form of the egrets with perfection.
The use of lines in traditional Chinese art is one of the areas that Lin constantly studied, organized and developed in his work. Lady with Teapot (Lot 2269), Nude (Lot 2270), and Lady Playing Pipa (Lot 2271) are three delighful paintings rendered in light tinted colours and ink tones. They display Lin's intricate use of delicate brushstrokes, that is at the same time applied deliberately and precisely. Lin illustrated the shapely female bodies with curved lines that represent a sense of "beauty and life". Lin integrated his style with Western theories of colour. Western artists considered colours as independent elements of expression, as Kandinsky has said "Colours directly touch the human souls." The lightly applied colours and ink and colours represent the different characters of women. The pale and refined greyish blue displays the elegance of the lady that is enjoying tea; the vivid blue and pink express the energetic side of the female; the faded or bright green illustrates the charisma of the talented.
Some of the hobbies of Lin when he was living in Shanghai such as watching plays of shadow-puppets , folk theatre and Beijing opera, gave him much inspiration in his artistic creation. He rediscovered the important underlyingessence of Chinese visual arts within these traditional folk arts. The temporal and spatial relationship presented in Chinese opera even became the tool Lin used to explain the abstraction within Cubist idiom. In Chinese Opera Character (Lot 2268), depicting the protagonist holding a bow and an arrow, Lin left the background of the scene empty, hence, making the lines become the key expressive elements. Apart from using black lines to outline the contour of the figures, the artist also traced the mask, beard, and texture of the character's clothing with white outlines, enhancing the three-dimensionality of the figure, and emphasing the domineering and striking quality of the character.
In the 1940s Lin resigned from the post of principal of Hangzhou Art College, and fled to Chongqing during war. During the sojourn, he had been greatly impressed by the scenery in Jialing River. The villages on the bank sides left a significant impression in the artist's mind. These memories might have been transformed into Coastal Village (Lot 2264). Lin adopted the signature composition style of 'Ma Yijiao', placing the village at the lower left corner of the picture. On the right, the water extends indefinitely, and stretches to the middle ground to bridge with the mountainous background. The interwoven lines form the triangular and square shapes that became the overlaying village houses, which create an overall well-balanced rhythm. Not only did Lin clearly capture the layered relationship of fore-, middle- and background within the scene, the reflection of the light was also expressed through the rippling effect created by the smudging of the semi-transparent ink. The sense of spatiality is ingeniously created through the simply outline of birds in mid-air.
Square compositions were a major trait of Lin's artistic creation. Circles confound in squares and squares framed in circles are not only a typical Western modernist compositional format but also suggests its inheritance from the traditional Chinese saying of "round as the skies, square as the land". The imagery in Mountain Village (Lot 2265) seems to have captured the vast scenery within the mountain in a crystal ball. At first glance, it seems to be illustrating a spring landscape; yet the purple blossom on the trees in the foreground, the golden trees in the mid-ground, the pine trees at the back and the shade of blue overcast in the sky, embodies the atmosphere of the seasonal changes in a year within the image. Lin successfully captures the transition of time within the painting and the multi-perspective stands for the artist's understanding and perception of the holistic view of nature. Lin was good at creating compositionally complex forest scene on a square canvas. Through the pathway at the front, one walks into the houses with black-tiled roof and white walls. Trees grow along the pathway, leading the viewer upwards along the slope. If one examines Village Houses (Lot 2263) carefully, one would found that Lin placed emphasis on the colour in order to strengthen the texture of the scene and to balance the layers of tonal variations in the ink. Using the method of "ink overlaying colours", and vice verse, he created a landscape scene with complexly interwoven layers of colour and alternating thickness of the medium. Kandinsky once stated, "black is the most toneless colour. It can be used as a neutral background to complement the intricate changes of other colours." Lin set off the changes of yellow, green and blue with the large areas of house with back-tiled roofs.
Egrets (Lot 2266) and Fishing Birds, (Lot 2267) perfectly demonstrate Lin's mastery in using ink, it is a perfect representation of how colour and ink blends together. In Chinese paintings, there is a theory of the "five basic colours of ink"; ink is not considered as merely black. In an ink painting, even though only a single ink colour is applied, it can still represent the subjects perfectly by creating tonal changes of "dry, wet, dense, light and charred". In Fishing Birds, the artist applied theories of Western Modernism into the ink composition. The artist reconsidered the three-dimensional space as elements of a two-dimensional surface. The reeds and the birds on the rafts in the foreground, the shallow beach in the mid-ground, and the rock mountain in the back, separate the image into three sections. The reed stems by the waterside is outlined by brisk brushstrokes, the intricate changes of the lines are highlighted by the tint of ink over the image. The fishing birds are depicted with simple strokes of dark ink, while the blank space left to represent the white stream and sky imply the uncertain spatial distance. Egrets depicts three birds in different postures by the reeds in a close-up angle. The blend of colour and ink show the humidity and fogginess that is unique of Southern China. A smooth contour line outlines the shape of the birds. The intense ink strokes recreate the gait of the bird. From the concentrated ink that forms their tails to their eyes that has been depicted with precision, Lin presented the appearance and form of the egrets with perfection.
The use of lines in traditional Chinese art is one of the areas that Lin constantly studied, organized and developed in his work. Lady with Teapot (Lot 2269), Nude (Lot 2270), and Lady Playing Pipa (Lot 2271) are three delighful paintings rendered in light tinted colours and ink tones. They display Lin's intricate use of delicate brushstrokes, that is at the same time applied deliberately and precisely. Lin illustrated the shapely female bodies with curved lines that represent a sense of "beauty and life". Lin integrated his style with Western theories of colour. Western artists considered colours as independent elements of expression, as Kandinsky has said "Colours directly touch the human souls." The lightly applied colours and ink and colours represent the different characters of women. The pale and refined greyish blue displays the elegance of the lady that is enjoying tea; the vivid blue and pink express the energetic side of the female; the faded or bright green illustrates the charisma of the talented.
Some of the hobbies of Lin when he was living in Shanghai such as watching plays of shadow-puppets , folk theatre and Beijing opera, gave him much inspiration in his artistic creation. He rediscovered the important underlyingessence of Chinese visual arts within these traditional folk arts. The temporal and spatial relationship presented in Chinese opera even became the tool Lin used to explain the abstraction within Cubist idiom. In Chinese Opera Character (Lot 2268), depicting the protagonist holding a bow and an arrow, Lin left the background of the scene empty, hence, making the lines become the key expressive elements. Apart from using black lines to outline the contour of the figures, the artist also traced the mask, beard, and texture of the character's clothing with white outlines, enhancing the three-dimensionality of the figure, and emphasing the domineering and striking quality of the character.